The power of shadow-work, how to open through the heart of pain and connect with your true essence.

By welcoming your shadow, you recognize its beauty and gift, and help it transform into deep peace.

We have learned to seek refuge from our shadow—to deny its rightful place in our lives. We shun what we don’t understand. But when we push the unseen under, we become overshadowed even more by the unseen as well as our rejection of it. Releasing the shadow requires deep surrender; it necessitates the willingness to open our door and let it in. It is through surrender that energy is transformed.

By welcoming the shadow, you see the light.

When we welcome the shadow, we bring all of us to the light of the Divine and all of us is welcomed: our hurt, sorrow and joy alike, our ancestors, karmic blueprint, and past lifetimes.

The Divine doesn’t shun any aspects of who we are and who we have been, or in whatever has come before us from our families.

Welcoming the shadow opens us to the beauty that exists in everything.

Shadow-work is essential to experience true joy.

I’ve been dedicated to opening through the heart of my shadows since my first inception in the therapeutic process. Through this process, I discovered an intimate relationship with my spirit that continues to bless me with insight and the courage to welcome every thought, belief and emotion that arises.

This personal receptivity of one’s shadow-self is in vast contrast to many people’s belief that shadow-work has not spiritually evolved. There is a tendency for many spiritual teachers to relegate therapeutic process-work to a lower status, while transcendence is seen as the ultimate goal. To me, shadow-work is in essence spiritual, as it involves welcoming the sacred in everything.

Shadow-work involves deep exploration of the unconscious.

Authentic spirituality doesn’t avoid any aspect of the human experience, but rather recognizes that whatever we avoid persists and festers, and ultimately pushes past our defences into unconscious behaviour, unless of course we become conscious of it.

Shadow-work involves deep exploration of the unconscious, and gently prying loose the habitual patterns that we have become so accustomed to, so that we can become conscious of our true sense of value and with what is wanting to emerge naturally in all areas of our lives.

Becoming conscious is a healing process, not an avoidance of pain.

Becoming conscious is a process of being in touch with our emotions and honest with our thoughts and beliefs.It calls for holding a sacred space for all of our humanity, opening a heartfelt dialogue with the fragmented parts of ourselves, so that we can move through the heart of our pain and struggles.

True spirituality welcomes all human experience and invites in-depth exploration of personal and interpersonal issues that arise in our lives. It is all about developing an intimate relationship with all of who we are, which deepens our embodiment of spirit.

Masiandia. “Without shadow you could not differentiate between water, rock or sky. Similarly, without light there would be no shapes to form your landscape. You need your resistance because it forms the contrasts that define your landscape; it provides structure and helps you maintain equilibrium.”

“As we have said countless times, you cannot expect to know true harmony, love, peace, prosperity, joy… when you resist any aspect of you, for what you resist does indeed persist. What you resist may go underground and become as inconspicuous as possible, but it doesn’t vanish. It perseveres through unconscious means: illness, weakness, relationship issues, work-related difficulties…

“What you resist must eventually be welcomed for it is the only way for it to transform into beauty. Your whole being yearns to be cherished, not abandoned, so please be gentle with all of you, every facet of your human experience, especially when it shows up as shame, fear, anger, frustration, pain. All your feelings, thoughts, misconceptions, false stories, and ego-identification need your affection, not your rejection.

“Please become your best friend. Be the one who adores you.”

SWEET DARKNESSBy David Whyte poem, in The House of Belonging

When your eyes are tiredthe world is tired too.

When your vision has goneno part of the world can find you.Time to go into the darkwhere the night has eyesto recognize its own.

There you are not beyond love.The dark will be your womb tonight.The night will give you a horizonfurther than you can see.

You must learn one thing.The world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worldsexcept the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweetconfinement of your aloneness

to learnanything or anyone

that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

♥

On the path of healing there comes a time when painful wounds need to be cared for with skillful guidance and support.